As Supply Chain Management is becoming more and more market driven, SCM software developers are developing strategies and systems to cater to this dynamic paradigm shift in the market. The new supply chain management systems are slated to become more strategic, adaptive and competitive in nature. Moreover, supply chain management software market continues to be the driving force behind businesses achieving their goals and sales objectives. In fact, in the year 2013, the SCM software market saw a tremendous spike of about 7.3% and saw an overall growth to $8.9 billion.
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Market Trend
While it is true that IT budget constraints and changing global economic conditions are laying utmost stress on cost reduction and austerity as a major business and market driver, supply chain management with a good structure is becoming a major factor in improving competitive performance in the business market. Those businesses that continued to keep their supply chain management systems central to their business success continued to make inroads into newer markets, even though IT decision makers were more skeptical about the expenses. Although most companies had basic supply chain management systems, only those companies that approached SCM in an integrated manner managed to reap any real benefits from SCM. Although the growth of supply chain software is satisfying, the initial point of service is much lower than before and the deals these days are directed towards specific functionalities rather than for the whole suite of services.
Market Drivers
One of the key drivers for SCM software growth is the need for improvement and enhancement in supply chain visibility. Moreover, these days the need for demand driven supply chain is being felt more strongly. In fact, dynamically integrated supply chain systems and the need for one-stop-shop solutions for SCM issues are changing the face of the market.
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The key business players in the SCM software are SAP AG, Oracle Corp., JDA Software Group Inc., Manhattan Associates Inc., IBM Corp., Accellos Inc., Epicor Corp., RedPrairie Corp., and more. The major regions driving the SCM software market are Americas, EMEA, and APAC with North America and Western Europe continuing to provide nearly 77% of the total market revenue from SCM software.
Market for Small SCM Software Vendors
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SAP continued to maintain its number one status of providing supply chain technologies and software by holding nearly 24% of market share and growing at 24% from the previous year. Oracle continued to maintain its second position, with JDA software finishing on the podium. Larger competitors maintained a strong hold over the market, thanks to a slew of acquisitions taking place in the business world. Although the top vendors of SCM software continue to maintain large market share, the smaller vendors are also seeing more opportunities than ever. The reason for the growth of small vendors is due to the fact that users are skeptical about the mergers, with uncertainty and qualms about the success of the acquisition looming large.
Supply Chain Management Software
SCM software is a supply chain management application that brings various activities of the supply chain system into a cohesive and integrated system. This software application manages to provide precise information about all the processes involved in the complete supply chain cycle. SCM software is used to facilitate transactions, supplier and vendor relations and business processes. A good SCM software brings the business and all the elements of the supply chain into one integrated system and helps end users enjoy increased benefits of overseeing management, transactions, purchasing, sales, shipping and service. So, SCM not only helps in integrating end-to-end functions of the supply chain but also facilitates the management to take effective and timely decisions.
